There are not enough child care workers or facilities to meet demand.
The lack of affordable child care options negatively impacts job opportunities, especially for women and low-income families.
States have employed a variety of policies to improve child care access, but there are limited studies looking at how specific approaches affect access.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted child care for 93% of working families in Missouri; about 1 in 3 could not access any child care providers [United WE, 2020 & 2021].
The capacity of licensed facilities. 27% of families use child care homes or centers [US Chamber Foundation, 2021]. There are 57 child care slots for every 100 children whose parents work [Child Care Aware, 2020].
Recruitment and retention of qualified child care workers. Missouri requires that child care facilities have at least one teacher for every ten children over two years old; state law requires one teacher for every four children under two (5 CSR 25-400). As a result, a small number of families are primarily responsible for subsidizing teacher and facility costs [Build Initiative, 2021].
Wages, facility-specific standards, and waiting periods for background checks can influence who is willing and able to fill these positions.
Individual facilities may choose to require additional educational qualifications, such as elated courses, degrees and/or credentials. While additional training can increase teacher quality, facilities are not required to increase salaries for this experience [CCSA, 2022].
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 31% of families said child care issues slowed their return to work and limited other employment opportunities (Figure 1) [US Chamber Foundation, 2021].
The cost of child care can equal or surpass parent salaries.
Child care access is determined by several factors e.g., social networks, income, state policies, and employer benefits. Most studies are focused on establishing a basic picture in terms of access, quality, and affordability of child care [Child Care Aware, 2020]. Therefore, it is unclear how specific policy decisions will impact child care access especially due to the varied reasons for limited child care access.
Common policy options that states can use to increase access to child care include:
Supplemental Table 1 highlights examples of state and federal approaches to improve child care access.